Many people have questions about the division of hydraulic guillotines into swing beam shears (fixed angle shears) and guillotine shears (variable angle shears).
What distinguishes the hydraulic swing beam shear from the guillotine?
Why do most users prefer guillotine scissors?
What are the advantages of hydraulic guillotine compared to hydraulic swing beam shear?
Today, I will explain the differences between swing beam cutting machine and guillotine cutting machine.
The following table describes the main differences between the QC12 series swing beam shear and the QC11 series hydraulic guillotine:
| Difference | QC12K/Y Series | QC11K/Y Series | |
| Hydraulic Swing Beam Scissors | Hydraulic Guillotine Shears | ||
| 1 | Blade holder cutting movement | – Unipivot support, lever principle; – Make curvilinear arc-shaped movements around the back fulcrum. |
– Three-point support bearing guide (lower eccentric shaft, front support shaft, upper eccentric shaft) – Make linear vertical movements. |
| two | Shear force | – Hydraulic oil cylinder fixed in an oblique direction; – 75% acting force, 25% loss. |
– Hydraulic oil cylinder makes linear vertical movement; -100% hydraulic pressure acting on the cutting edge. |
| 3 | Blade style | – Top blade in prismatic shape, which can only use two beveled edges; – Lower blade in rectangular shape, with four cutting edges being able to be used. |
– Both the upper and lower blades have a rectangular shape; – All four cutting edges can be used. |
| 4 | Adjusting the cutting angle | – Fixed cutting angle and blade support angle; – It is only possible to cut at a specific angle, whatever the thickness of the sheet. |
– Adjustable cutting angle, different cutting angles are applied to cut plates with different thicknesses. – Adopting a smaller cutting angle can effectively reduce the distortion of sheet metal and increase the cutting speed; – It can also increase the shear angle to increase the shear force. |
| 5 | Lubrication point | Bevel gears are very worn and require frequent lubrication to increase their useful life. | Most use self-lubricating ball joints, so you basically don't need to lubricate manually. |
| 6 | Blade holder return device | Nitrogen return cylinder, easy to leak, often needs to be repaired. | Bladder type accumulator returns are stable and reliable. |
| 7 | Usage range | Common small and medium-sized parts, common requirements for cutting surface. | Large and medium-sized ultra-long sheet metal scissors, require high precision for cutting surface. |
| 8 | Backstop structure (optional) | – 500W AC motor + universal connection twisted shaft; – Easy to cause gaps, no spring buffer, no retraction function. |
– Inverter + speed motor + encoder + electronic digital display; – Stepless speed regulation, low noise, spring retraction and buffer function. |
| 9 | Fuel tank (optional) | If common plates are not handled, the longer they last, the easier they rust, causing blockage and wear of hydraulic parts. | The overall coating treatment, no rust, is not easy to react with oil. |
You can click here to download the high-resolution version of the infographic above.
Shear Accuracy
The blade clearance of the swing beam shear and guillotine is 0.04mm.
However, the bearing connection between the swing arm and the pendulum body of the swing beam cutting machine cannot completely eliminate the backlash.
As a result, the accuracy errors between the gaps and the blade edge gap are typically greater than 0.1mm, making the accuracy of the oscillating beam cutting machine theoretically worse than that of the guillotine cutting machine.
The rear guide rail of the guillotine is pressed by a bearing with a compression spring pad at the rear, ensuring that there are no gaps between the front and rear guide rails.
This keeps the blade edge gap to gap accuracy below 0.04mm, resulting in smoother, burr-free cutting of material.
Way of work
Because the tool holder of the swing beam cutting machine has a curved shape, it makes arc point contact to ensure the straightness of the material being cut.
The guillotine guarantees the straightness of the material to be cut with its straight tool holder, resulting in greater precision.
However, the swing beam cutting machine suffers from significant blade recoil in the middle, resulting in some cutting materials with burrs. This problem cannot be avoided.
Shear angle
When cutting sheets with a thickness of less than 20mm, the shear angle of the swing beam cutting machine cannot be adjusted, causing the material to be cut to be twisted. The narrower the material cut, the greater the distortion.
In contrast, the guillotine allows continuous adjustment of the shear angle, making it less likely that the cut sheet will become distorted and deformed, thus maintaining workpiece accuracy.
More importantly, the shear force is stronger after the shear angle is increased.
Blade
The swing beam hydraulic cutting machine cannot utilize all four edges of the blade to cut metal plates due to the curved movement of the blade.
As a result, only the diamond-shaped cutting edge can be used for double-sided cutting.
In contrast, the guillotine's tool holder moves up and down in a linear motion, allowing the top and bottom blades to be cut with all four edges.
This means that the guillotine blade has a useful life twice as long as that of the guillotine.
Other details
The hydraulic guillotine does not depend on nitrogen to return the blade, eliminating the discomfort caused by air leakage. It uses a double-acting hydraulic cylinder.
In comparison, the swing beam shear design still has many unresolved problems, such as:
- Difficulty in guaranteeing the resistance of the blade holder for widths greater than 3200mm;
- Difficulty lubricating the built-in semicircular cylinder block;
- Cylinder that is not easily repairable;
- Rack with uneven tension;
- Difficulty in adjusting the precision of the blade gap;
- Materials with a shear length of less than 20mm cannot use the feedback device.
- The working principle of the swing beam cutting machine limits its ability to cut thick plates. To cut metal plates thicker than 8 mm, you must use a guillotine.
Nowadays, renowned cutting machine manufacturers around the world mainly produce hydraulic guillotine cutting machines, which are a little more expensive.
Compared with the hydraulic swing beam cutting machine, the hydraulic guillotine cutting machine has high cutting precision, adjustable cutting angle and a long-lasting cutting edge.
In simpler terms, the guillotine shear is the second generation hydraulic shear and an upgraded version of the swing beam shear.
However, if you have a limited budget, swing beam scissors can still be a good option.
If you want to buy a cutting machine from a machine manufacturer with reliable quality, you can refer to the list of top 10 cutting machine manufacturers.
